The highest offer isn’t always the best offer when selling your home. The FOCUS on NoVA runs you through some scenarios to give an idea of all the options that are on the table in a sales offer.
If you’re a seller your biggest goal is to get as much money for your home as possible. But when it comes time to looking at the offers in front of you sometimes at the highest price isn’t going to be the best offer.
SELLER SUBSIDIES
When it comes to the offer price, a buyer may come in at full asking price but then they’re asking for a seller subsidy so that will net you a lower amount. They do this because this will allow them to bring less cash to the table at closing and will keep the home value up for the neighborhood.
WAIVING INSPECTIONS AND CONTINGENCIES
Buyers could also come in with a lower offer but they’re offering to waive the appraisal or the home inspection which could, in the end, help you save more money. For instance, if you have a buyer offer $5,000 less than what asking price is but they’re going to completely waive the home inspection and the appraisal that means that they are taking the house exactly as it is and no more money is going to be possibly shelled by the seller because they’re not asking the seller to to fix anything. And if an appraisal comes back high, the buyer waived that contingency so they will be paying the difference in offer and appraisal price. The above offer might be better for a seller than having a buyer come in at asking price but they still want to do all their inspections and appraisal.
SETTLEMENT TIMING
Another thing to think about when you’re looking at offers is settlement time. Maybe you are a seller and you’re still looking for a place to live after you sell your home. If a buyer comes in and offers you $5,000 less or any amount less but they’re willing to let you stay in the home until you find your own property that could save you a lot of money, especially if they’re doing a free rent back for a month. If you are a seller who is wanting to move quickly and a buyer can close faster than the typical 30 days you that could be a big selling point for the seller too.
Those are a couple items that you want to think about when you are looking at all the offers in front of you because the highest price isn’t necessarily going to be your best offer.
If you have any questions about Northern Virginia real estate, reach out as we are happy to help.
